


From the Outside Looking In

by Melodious329



Category: Kane (Band), Leverage RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-19
Updated: 2011-04-19
Packaged: 2017-10-18 08:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melodious329/pseuds/Melodious329
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris and Steve go out to dinner with Tim and Saul Rubinek, but the more the boys drink, the more "handsy" they get</p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Outside Looking In

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I neither own nor know the real persons after whom these characters are created.
> 
> Based on comments made during the Leverage chat after the Santa episode

Tim isn’t surprised when dinner with Saul, Christian, and Steve turns into just hanging out with drinks in the private booth they’d reserved. He and Christian hang out drinking and shooting the shit all the time, sometimes with the rest of the cast, sometimes with the guest stars.

But Tim knows the signs that this night won’t be exactly the same, not just because Steve is here, but because Christian and Steve are feeling comfortable with the present company. They’re comfortable enough to forget the present company.

It’s hard to tell when it starts. Christian and Steve are often in their own world, talking to each other, watching each other, bumping shoulders and legs, whispering in each other’s ears. Tim does notice when Saul first starts putting things together. Maybe it’s the way Christian drags a finger down Steve’s hand laid on the booth between them, or the way Steve brushes dark strands of hair back from Christian’s face when they’re talking.

But it is definitely the way that Christian looks at Steve when Steve pulls back his hand, picking up his drink and trying again to listen to the conversation that Tim is valiantly keeping going by himself. There is love, and longing in that gaze, so much that when Steve glances back he can’t take his eyes away again.

Steve manages to fumble his glass back onto the table without breaking eye contact so that he can get his hand around the back of Christian’s neck. Christian’s eyes close then, like he thinks they’re going to kiss. Tim thinks so too, the way Christian’s face is tilted slightly, the way Steve’s pulling Christian in.

Tim hears Saul splutter and cough beside him, the clanking of ice in a glass hastily picked up, but he’s certain Steve and Christian hear nothing outside of each other. They don’t kiss, though. Steve has the serene expression of the hopelessly lost as he drags his thumb down a stubbled jawline. Christian tilts his face more then, what could be seen as bashfulness but is more likely an invitation. An invitation Steve takes, running the back of his knuckles over Christian’s cheekbone with a tenderness even the musician’s guitars don’t get.

It’s too much when Christian’s breath stutters out, too intimate. Saul bumps the table as he tries to escape prompting Tim to stand up and for Christian and Steve to finally resurface. Steve leans his face back to look , clear blue eyes sheepish but not overly concerned, but Christian, Christian looks down and away, moving his body away from Steve.

“Hey, we’ll be right back, guys,” Tim says as encouragingly as he can, clapping Steve on the shoulder as he leaves. The last thing he sees is Steve handing Christian his drink.

When he catches up with Saul in the bathroom, the other man is unsurprisingly leaning over the sink splashing cold water on his face. Saul grabs a couple of paper towels from the dispenser on his right before meeting Tim’s eyes in the mirror, a red blush still on his face.

“I’m assuming they’re together,” Sauls says calmly.

Tim’s smile is slow as he steps closer to the sinks. “Very.”

The smile doesn’t last long though, as Tim becomes serious. “That isn’t a problem?” he asks delicately. “It’s not something everyone needs to know.”

Saul stares at him for a moment with a concerned expression before he’s rushing into an answer. “You think…of course, I wouldn’t tell anyone. I don’t have a problem with them being…” Saul waves his left hand around randomly for a second.

“They didn’t think you would,” Tim says with a slight smile again.

Saul relaxes again, his hands on the counter holding him up. “You know if they were just pawing at each other,” Saul starts, that sly half-grin on his face.

“I know,” Tim interjects, honest amusement now. “But instead, they’re so…”

“In love,” Saul finishes with a sympathetic grin. “Makes me want to…”

“Go back to my empty hotel room and cry myself to sleep,” Tim tries to be humorous, cutting his eyes away self-deprecatingly.

Saul just stares at him with his mouth open before saying, “Uh, no, more like hurry home and take my wife out for a nice dinner.” Saul’s smile then is more for himself than Tim and the boys.

When they get back to the table, Steve has his arm around Christian’s wide shoulders, holding him like a teddy bear to his side. Their heads are together, talking in those whispers again, and though Christian still holds his drink, Steve’s other hand is between them, fingers gently moving over Christian’s thigh.

As they finish their drinks, Christian and Steve don’t separate, but they don’t get lost in one another again. When they all decide to call it a night shortly thereafter, Christian’s still reserved, but Saul’s genuinely happy for them, Tim can tell. Christian doesn’t get a night off like this often, a night out with Steve and with friends, where Christian can really be himself.

It matters how Saul reacts. But when they’re chilling in the hotel room together, Christian and Saul and Tim, eating and drinking and smoking cigars, chatting live with the Leverage fans, Tim knows they were right to trust Saul.


End file.
